About The Cantu Foundation
In 2020, The Cantu Foundation emerged from the shared passion of its co-founders, Fatima and Jenna. Despite residing on opposite coasts, these two kindred spirits connected through social media, driven by their mutual desire to make a positive impact on the lives of dogs in need.
Our foundation derives its name and inspiration from Cantu, an extraordinary rescue pittie who embodied the spirit of resilience. Cantu's unwavering determination to live his best life, despite facing challenges, serves as the cornerstone of our mission.
At The Cantu Foundation, our primary goal is to offer a second chance at life to dogs from Baja California and Southern California. We believe that every dog deserves a loving home and an opportunity for a brighter future.
Our approach is simple yet impactful. We operate as a fully foster-based rescue organization, sustained by the generosity of donations and the unwavering dedication of our foster families. When a dog enters our care, they receive not only shelter but also the love, attention, and rehabilitation necessary to thrive.
Our vision for the future is ambitious but heartfelt. We aspire to establish our very own facility in San Diego, a central hub for our rescue operations. With this facility, we aim to streamline the process of saving dogs and expand our reach, ensuring more dogs find their forever homes.
Check out Cantu’s second The Dodo video!
Meet Our Team
Fatima Guevara
Founder
Born in Lima, Peru, and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Fatima Guevara has always had a deep love for animals and a passion for helping those in need. Throughout the years, she volunteered with local shelters and participatedk in international spay and neuter outreach programs, gaining firsthand experience with the challenges facing homeless animals and the communities working to support them.
Her journey took a transformative turn when she adopted Cantu, a special needs dog whose resilience and spirit challenged many of the misconceptions surrounding rescue animals. Through Cantu, Fatima witnessed the incredible impact that compassion, advocacy, and second chances can have, not only on animals, but on the people who love them.
Inspired by those experiences, Fatima founded The Cantu Foundation with a simple belief: every dog deserves the opportunity to live a safe, healthy, and loved life. What began as a mission to help a few dogs quickly grew into a dedicated rescue organization committed to saving vulnerable dogs, supporting adopters and fosters, and educating the community about responsible pet ownership.
Today, Fatima continues to lead The Cantu Foundation with the same passion that inspired its creation, working alongside an incredible team of volunteers to give dogs the second chances they deserve and help them find the loving homes they’ve been waiting for.
Jenna Finch
Director of Operations
Jenna is born and raised in San Diego, California and grew up in a household full of animals. With a mom who was always taking of stray dogs and cats, rescue came very naturally to her. In college, she worked as a volunteer director at a local, no-kill shelter in Santa Barbara and post-college, she volunteered in South Africa working with lions, tigers, hyenas and a variety of other wild animals. It was through these experiences that her love of animals grew even deeper.
Growing up, her father owned a beach house in Rosarito, Mexico, where she and her sister spent a lot of time. She remembers begging her father to let them take in the countless homeless dogs they would encounter. She has seen firsthand how dire the situation is in Mexico regarding the homeless dog population; how deeply neglected, unloved and abused many of these street dogs are. It is because of this that our cause resonates so deeply with her.
Approximately 6 years ago, she became involved with an organization called The Animal Pad (TAP) and it was through TAP that she found Cantù’s Instagram and connected with Fatima. She rescued her first dog almost 9 years ago, who is a big, block-headed pittie. Her love for her own dog is also why she fiercely advocates for this very misunderstood breed.
Sara was born and raised in Northwest Indiana. Her family has always had at least 4 dogs in the household at a time, so she grew up loving animals from a very young age. When she moved to San Diego, her and her husband adopted their first dog, Hobo. Hobo came from a hoarding situation; gaining his trust and seeing him grow into a happy, healthy dog was the most rewarding thing she had taken on up until that point.
She wanted to do more and after hearing of Richie’s story and his passing, she knew the time was now. She loved the Cantu Foundation’s genuine care and knew it was the right place to start. Since joining the team, she has adopted Cirilo, now Bumi, from the TCF family. He has megaesophagus and beat all odds by surviving with the horrible disease on the streets for 4 years. He now proudly eats in his own high chair.
Every dog deserves a chance, and Sara hopes to help give more dogs of all needs and capabilities that opportunity.
Sara Tumbas
Adoptions Director
Sara Rodriguez
Events Director
Sara was raised in San Diego, CA. She never had a pet until Santa brought her kids Rosco, a 3-month old Chihuahua Dachshund. Rosco crossed the Rainbow Bridge in 2022 at almost 17 years old.
At almost the end of 2020, her youngest daughter asked if they could foster. She was a senior in high school. Sara’s initial response was no but then reconsidered. It was something her daughter could do during the lockdown (& Sara WFH).
The thought was that once her daughter went off to college, the fostering would stop. Well, her daughter went off to college, and has graduated, but Sara continues. It’s been one of the most fulfilling experiences.
Brittany Hodik
Director of Community Outreach and Education
Brittany serves as the Director of Community Outreach and Education where her passion for rescue advocacy and community engagement has grown from volunteer work into a leadership role within the organization. Beginning as an event volunteer, Brittany quickly became an integral part of the foundation, now leading adoption events, coordinating outreach efforts, and helping build meaningful partnerships that expand the organization’s impact.
In addition to her outreach work, Brittany is a dedicated medical needs foster and fundraising lead. Her efforts have helped secure important collaborations, including partnerships with organizations such as 15/10 Foundation, along with grants that support the foundation’s rescue and medical programs. She is also a member of the Puppy Party team, combining fundraising with community education and engagement to help connect more people to the mission of animal rescue.
Brittany’s commitment to special needs animals is deeply personal. She adopted her own special needs wheelie dog, Speedy, and later foster-failed Sonic, who came into rescue with three broken legs and ultimately became a tripod. Through both her professional and personal experiences, Brittany is passionate about advocating for animals with medical and special needs while inspiring others to see the resilience and joy these dogs bring into the world.
Emily Kay
Foster Director
Emily has been a volunteer with TCF since November 2020. She was raised with dogs her whole life and was brought up to believe that dogs are family. She herself has adopted and raised 4 rescue dogs, all mixed in breed, personality and challenges. She has also worked at 2 different kennels part time while completing grad school to be a social worker. She always wished she could be a social worker for dogs and working with TCF allows her to do just that!
Emily finds that helping animals find homes that otherwise wouldn’t have a chance in life is one of the most personally satisfying things she has ever done. Even though she lives on the other side of the country on the East Coast, she feels personally connected to each foster dog she is able to help.
Brianna Velazco Volunteer Director
Brianna began volunteering with TCF in June 2020 transporting pups from Mexico to their foster homes. With the pandemic & passing of her dog, Brianna felt she needed something to uplift her spirits and thanks to social media, came across our rescue.
As of today, she and her mom are actively transporting on the weekends along with fostering and attending local adoption events. On her free time, Brianna likes to spend time with her senior dogs, Benny and Xola, and taking care of the feral community cats.
Alex Herzing
Writing Team Director
Alex grew up in Upstate New York and Central Virginia and now lives on the West Coast of Florida. He spent his entire childhood with Doberman Pinschers in the house and when he and his wife moved to Florida they decided to rescue their first Pitbull.
Since adopting his Pitbull, Penny, Alex and his wife have thrown themselves into the dog rescue community. They have hundreds of volunteer hours logged at local shelters and have helped foster dogs for various rescues in their communities.
Alex is the head of The Cantu Foundation writing committee and coordinates our bio writers to make sure all dogs ready for adoption have a thoughtful and timely bio for our website so that the pups find their forever families as quickly as possible.
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